Morning Surprise
by angel-tomi
Summary: Ritsuka loves Soubi, but when he wakes up the day after his 14th birthday earless and with a hangover, he becomes sad that his first time was a result of alcohol. What's worse is that he's not sure he can survive his mother's anger. SOUBIxRITSUKA
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Loveless. If I did Ritsuka would've lost his ears at the end of the anime series. :**

Okay, this is pretty much my first Loveless fanfic. I've recently become obsessed with the series and decided to finally getting around to writing a fanfiction. **WARNING:** There will be yaoi (boyxboy) in this, so if you don't like it, stay out. Then again I doubt you'd watch/read Loveless if you hated yaoi anyway. xD

Anyway, here is the first chapter! Enjoy!

**Morning Surprise**

**Chapter I**

_Ugh…my head…_

The young teen slowly opened his eyes, trying to adjust to the bright light of the room. Squinting, he could make out two figures sitting on both sides of him: one with sea foam colored hair and lilac eyes, the other with maroon hair and green eyes. They were smirking at him.

"Hey, Loveless, Soubi's pretty rough, huh?" said the blue-haired one.

"We had to sleep out on the balcony because it was so loud in here, and we could _still_ hear you!" the maroon-haired one yelled. The two began laughing.

_Eh? What happened last night? _Ritsuka thought. The only thing he could remember about the day before was the beginning of his 14th birthday party. It had been here at Soubi's house, and all his friends had been there. He vaguely remembered Kio handing beer out to everyone.

_Did I get drunk?_

"Uh… What happened?" Ritsuka asked, sitting up. He looked around and noticed he was in Soubi's room. Now he wasn't so sure he _wanted_ to know what had happened.

Natsuo looked over at Youji with a grin on his face. "Should we tell him?"

"Nah." Youji replied. "He'll find out himself."

They laughed again and jumped out of the bed, running out of the room. Ritsuka sighed. His head was pounding and he was cold. It was then he realized he had no shirt on – no, the blanket was the _only_ thing he had on.

Screaming, he jumped up and found his clothes on the floor. Quickly throwing them on, he went to the bathroom and found a mirror.

His ears were gone.

The shock nearly caused him to faint. He couldn't remember anything that happened the night before, but by looking in the mirror, he knew exactly what happened.

The 14-year-old stomped to the kitchen were Natsuo and Youji were eating breakfast.

"Where is he?" he said, trying to sound calm.

Natsuo pointed towards the front door. Ritsuka nodded slightly and ran out. He saw Soubi standing there, smoking as usual. Noticing Ritsuka staring at him angrily, he backed up a bit.

"Morning." he said calmly. He knew he was going to get scolded.

Instead of saying anything, Ritsuka walked over and began beating his fists against Soubi's chest. He began sobbing hysterically, muttering something about how his mom was going to kill him. Soubi stood there and took the beating until Ritsuka grew tired.

Soubi was about to hug Ritsuka and apologize, but of course, the worst happened – Kio showed up.

"Hey, Sou-chan! Have a hangover from all that drinking last night? You better not have done anything to—"

The blonde haired man stopped abruptly at the sight of an earless Ritsuka. His smile turned into shock.

"Sou-chan!! How could you?! Do you want to go to jail for raping a kid?! Baka! Pervert! Pedophile!" Kio kept throwing out insults. Soubi, getting tired of it, slapped Kio across the cheek. His friend stopped, shocked that his best friend just slapped him.

Soubi was glaring at him. "If it wasn't for you constantly handing out alcohol to everyone and forcing them to drink more, this wouldn't have happened."

Kio stood there staring blankly. Was it really his fault? Thinking back, he remembered handing beer out to everyone, and giving Soubi and Ritsuka a lot more than he should have.

Hearing this, Ritsuka looked over at the man. He walked over and stared at him angrily. "What the hell were you thinking?! Giving a kid alcohol! You yell at Soubi for being in love with me, but in the end you're the one who caused him to do something stupid!"

Ritsuka was angry now, and the two men standing there could tell. He punched Kio in the nose quickly before stomping off. After a few seconds he turned back and looked at Soubi.

"Don't think I've forgiven you, though! Just because you were drunk, doesn't mean you didn't do anything."

Before either of them could say anything he ran off. He didn't go home, though. If his mother saw him like this, he knew he was dead, and literally, too. After a while, he found himself sitting on a bench in the park – the bench where he'd shared his first kiss with Soubi.

----

_But…I didn't know Seimei had an adult friend…_

_Oh, my ears? Don't worry; I won't do anything to you._

_----_

Ritsuka sighed as he remembered their first meeting. He'd been so scared of Soubi then. But in the past two years, he'd become closer to Soubi. But no matter how much Soubi told him he loved him…he couldn't believe it. Not when his real name was 'Loveless'.

_Loveless… One without love._

He'd always been bothered by his name. It was Loveless…but there seemed to be a lot of people who loved him. He used to only think he 'liked' Soubi. After a while, though, he'd come to love him, even if he didn't admit it. Ritsuka loved Soubi so much that the fact he'd taken his ears wasn't a big deal to him: it was the situation. He didn't want it to only be because they were drunk. Otherwise it didn't have any meaning.

His thoughts were soon interrupted by a low ringing. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. Opening it, he saw that it was Yuiko and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Ritsuka-kuuunnn!!!" screamed the voice from the other side. "Are you alright?! You got all drunk last night and then you just disappeared! What happened?!"

Ritsuka winced at Yuiko's screaming. His headache still hadn't gone away. "I'm fine…I guess." he replied. "And I'd prefer not to talk about what happened."

Yuiko was silent a moment. When she spoke again she sounded worried. "Ritsuka-kun…where are you? Yuiko's worried about you!"

Sighing, Ritsuka silently debated whether or not it'd be a good idea to see his friends right now. He knew Yuiko was worried, though.

"I'm at the park near the elementary school." he said after a few minutes.

He could hear Yuiko breathe a sigh of relief. "I'll be right over there, Ritsuka-kun!" she exclaimed, hanging up.

After putting his phone back into his pocket, Ritsuka laid his head down on the table. He'd wanted to be alone after what had happened, but he couldn't keep a persistent girl like Yuiko away for very long, and he knew he'd have to see them eventually.

He shut his eyes tightly, wanting to remember everything that had happened that night, yet at the same time scared to remember. Smelling something from behind him, he coughed. It was the familiar smell of smoke. Whipping around, he saw Soubi standing there with a sad look on his face.

"Hey, Ritsuka…"

----

**A/N:** Well, there you go. Hope you guys liked the first chapter. Be sure to review! I should have the next chapter up soon, depending on how much free time I have.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Loveless. ..._Yet_. : )

**Morning Surprise**

**Chapter II**

Ritsuka glared at the man.

"What do you want?" he asked.

Soubi was silent for a few seconds before speaking. "I…I'm sorry." he said finally. "You're not mad at me, are you?"

_What a stupid question. _Soubi thought. _Of course he's mad at me, and he has every right to be._

"What's there to be mad about?" the boy asked, turning his back to Soubi. "It was Kio's fault."

Ritsuka had surprised himself with his words. Soubi was surprised as well. But from the way the boy was acting, he wasn't sure whether or not it was true.

He went and sat in front of Ritsuka. "You're lying."

Ritsuka sighed and turned away. He was about to speak when he heard someone yell from behind him.

"RITSUKA-KUUUUUNNN!!!!!"

He winced as the scream reached his ears and turned around. Yuiko was standing there. She looked like she was about to cry.

"Hey, Yuiko." he said as she ran over.

The girl looked hysterical. The fact he knew Yuiko loved him as more than a friend made him feel a bit bad that she was seeing him like this, but it couldn't be helped.

"Ritsuka-kun! What happened? Why are your ears gone?!" Yuiko was sobbing uncontrollably now.

Ritsuka quickly looked over at Soubi, who stayed silent. He didn't want to interfere with anything by saying something stupid.

"I was drunk and I was at Soubi's house. Things just kinda…happened." he said after a few minutes.

After about five minutes of crying, Yuiko calmed down enough to talk. "I'm sorry, Ritsuka-kun! I should have helped you get home! I didn't know you were that drunk!"

Ritsuka blinked. Was she really blaming herself for what happened? He figured she'd been crying because she was jealous.

At that moment, Soubi stood up.

"Hey, where are you going?" Ritsuka asked, temporarily ignoring Yuiko. "I still wanna talk to you!"

"We can talk later." Soubi said. "Right now you should talk with your friends."

He looked at him apologetically before walking off. Ritsuka watched him leave before turning back to Yuiko.

"Yuiko, it's not your fault." he patted her on the back.

"But, I could've done something to stop it!"

"No, it's not." Ritsuka repeated. "You had nothing to do with it at all."

Yuiko calmed down after another minute or two. "Still…I just feel like it was my fault…"

The two were silent for a while, but Yuiko finally broke the silence.

"You know, I tried to get Yayoi-san to come, too. He said he wasn't feeling well, though. I wonder what happened."

Ritsuka looked over at her. "Maybe he was just tired?"

He sighed. He really wished Soubi hadn't walked off. Soubi was the one he mostly needed to talk to right now, and he couldn't do it if he wasn't there. But with Yuiko there, he knew it'd be a while before he even got the chance to see Soubi, and he knew he definitely couldn't go home. It was bad enough he hadn't went home last night. Who knows what would happen if he went home without his ears?

"Hey, if he's sick, why don't we drop by his house and see how he's doing?" he asked.

Yuiko looked a bit surprised at first, then smiled and nodded. They didn't talk much on the way there. The girl attempted at light conversation, but Ritsuka only gave short answers.

"Did…you and Soubi-san get into a fight?" she asked hesitantly.

"No."

"Are you mad at him?"

"No."

Halfway there, Ritsuka stopped. He wasn't so sure he wanted to go to Yayoi's house after all. How could he sit around and talk to his friends when Soubi was the one he really needed to talk to?

Without a word, he turned around and ran in the direction of Soubi's house, leaving Yuiko standing there, alone and confused. He could hear her calling after him, but he didn't stop running. She wouldn't be able to catch up to him anyway; he was too fast.

When he was completely out of sight, he stopped for a moment to take his breath. Hearing his phone ring, he pulled it out and saw the red light flashing. He quickly answered it.

"Soubi!" he exclaimed. However, it wasn't Soubi on the other line.

"Aoyagi-kun! Get over to your boyfriend's house now! We have serious problems ove— HEY, GIVE THAT BACK!!"

He could hear yelling in the background as someone pulled the phone away from Yayoi's mouth. Whoever had taken it hung up the phone before he could say anything.

_What's Yayoi-san doing at Soubi's house?_ he wondered, beginning to run again.

Whatever it was, one thing was for sure: this morning was just full of surprises.

----

**A/N:** Whee! Thanks for all the comments, faving, and stuff guys! I actually meant to put this chapter up two days ago, but I kept forgetting. Sorry this one's so short! It was originally longer, but it was getting a bit _too_ long and I decided that it didn't work out as well, and it came out shorter. Next chapter WILL be up this week. I promise! And anyone who guesses why Yayoi is at Soubi's house gets a cookie!


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **Still don't own Loveless. :(

And thanks to everyone who reviewed! Don't worry, nothing happened between Yayoi and Ritsuka. xD

Enjoy the chapter!

**Morning Surprise**

**Chapter III**

Ritsuka kept hesitating knocking on the door. He came here specifically to see Soubi, and now he was curious to figure out why Yayoi was there, but the yelling coming from inside the small apartment was giving him second thoughts. It didn't seem like he was going to walk in on anything…_disturbing_, but he could tell there was a bit of a fight going on inside.

Just as he was about to try and knock (for probably the tenth time), he heard Youji say, "Come on, Natsuo. Let's get out of the house while they continue their little fight."

He backed up just in time as Youji opened the door, Natsuo close behind him.

"Oh, hey, Ritsuka. What are you doing back here?"

"None of your business!" Ritsuka yelled, pushing past them and stomping inside the apartment.

Once inside, he stopped and stared. Yayoi was standing there, looking like he usually did after being rejected by Yuiko. This time, however, there were no ears to droop down close to the boy's head.

"Y-Yayoi… You too?" he asked after several minutes of silence.

Yayoi nodded and pointed to Kio. "All because of that pervert!"

Kio looked offended.

"It's all your fault you little brat! 'Suki Dayo, Kio! Suki Dayo! Do whatever you want with me!'" he mocked.

"You got everyone drunk, including me!" Yayoi shouted back.

Kio winked. "Alcohol loosens you up to expose your true feelings."

"That's enough!" Soubi exclaimed.

The two immediately stopped their squabbling. They didn't like the tone in Soubi's voice. Kio fell down on his knees in front of Soubi, hugging his foot.

"Sou-chan! I didn't mean to make you angry! I know I shouldn't have gotten everyone drunk last night. Forgive me?!"

Soubi pushed Kio off of his foot angrily. Yayoi quickly walked over to Ritsuka to avoid the older man.

"Where's Yuiko-san at?" he asked.

Ritsuka paused for a moment before answering. He was still in shock from everything that was happening today.

"Uh…she went to your house… We were both going together but then I ran over here instead."

"She what?! No! I can't go home now! I'll kill myself if she sees me like this!" Yayoi screamed.

Before Ritsuka could say anything, Yayoi rushed out of the house, screaming. _He's always had serious issues,_ Ritsuka thought briefly before turning back to Soubi.

"Kio, just please get out right now." Soubi said, looking over at Ritsuka.

Kio looked up at his friend. "Why?! What are you gonna do to the poor kid now, pervert?!"

"I wouldn't be saying that if I were you. You went and did the exact same thing. The only difference is that I love Ritsuka and you have no idea who that other kid is!"

The man stood up, but kept his head down. He knew he'd lost, and what's worse was that he'd become what he always yelled at his friend for being – a pervert. Well, maybe Soubi wasn't really a pervert. More of a pedophile, though that really wouldn't be the best wording either. He'd never fully understand Soubi, so it was best to keep away when things like this happened.

"Fine, I'm leaving. I'll just…stay away for a while…" Kio said, walking out the door and closing it softly behind him.

Ritsuka took the opportunity to catch Soubi off-guard and ran to him, hugging him tightly. The older man jumped slightly. He never expected Ritsuka to do something like that. Looking down at the boy, he hugged him back, happy that Ritsuka was the one hugging him for once. The teen kept his eyes shut. He wanted to stay there forever, just him and Soubi holding each other.

"Soubi…I-I love you…" he blurted out.

Feeling something wet splash onto his hair, he looked up to see Soubi crying.

"Soubi…?"

"Ritsuka…" Soubi whispered. "You don't know how happy I am to hear you say that. I thought you hated me."

Ritsuka jerked his head up, still holding on tight to the man. "Soubi, I could never hate you…"

Soubi looked down at him. "Even after what happened last night?"

"Of course not!" Ritsuka yelled, shaking his head. "I…uh… I don't care that you were the one who took my ears. I'm just mad because we were both drunk at the time…"

Without a word, Soubi scooped the boy into his arms, hugging him as tight as he could. After a few moments, hugging wasn't enough, and the two soon found themselves deeply involved in a kiss. The older man was surprised that Ritsuka was kissing him back. Up until now, their kisses had been one-sided.

_Maybe what happened last night wasn't so bad after all,_ Soubi thought. What he thought would ruin their relationship had definitely brought them closer. Even though he'd never again see his Ritsuka with those darling little neko ears and tail, this was certainly worth it.

"Ohayo, Aoyagi-san!"

As Misaki opened the door, she was greeted by a young teenage girl, her long, dark brown hair parted into twin tails. She had a big grin on her face, and was dressed in a long-sleeved dark blue top with equally dark blue jeans. Her outfit was covered by a long, black trench coat.

"What do you want?" Ritsuka's mother asked, glaring at the girl.

The teen ignored the older woman's rudeness, keeping the smile plastered on her face.

"I'm a classmate of Ritsuka-kun! Is he here by any chance?"

"He's not here right now." Misaki answered, slamming the door.

"Pfft! How rude!" the girl muttered, turning away from the door.

She began walking down the sidewalk, meeting up with a slightly older girl at the corner.

"Riko-chan! I told you it wouldn't work! His mother's too crazy!"

The older one sighed. She was two years older than her Sacrifice, but she was the one that always came up with the ideas that never worked.

"Well, Ritsu-sensei is trying to get us to get Loveless over to Septimal Moon! What else are we gonna do?" Riko said.

"We could wait 'til Winter Break ends!" the younger one exclaimed, smiling. "I'm in several of his classes, so it won't be hard for me to talk to him!"

"But Asami-chan! Isn't he mad at you for calling him gay that one time?"

Asami glared at her Fighter. "I'm sure he's forgotten all about it!"

"Soubi…don't you ever turn on the heater?"

The man smiled as Ritsuka pulled the covers tightly around his small body. Amidst their kissing, they'd somehow ended up on the bed again with a repeat of last night – without the alcohol. The two were now huddled up under the covers, trying to keep warm.

"Go turn it on." Soubi said, shivering slightly.

"It's your house."

"You're the one who brought it up."

Ritsuka looked up at him, glaring slightly. "I order you to go turn on the heater."

Soubi quickly jumped up, pulling the only blanket off the bed and wrapping it around him. "Fine, but I have to keep warm while I turn it on." he said, walking over to turn on the heater.

"Soubi! Bring that back!" the boy exclaimed, now shivering visibly.

He took his time turning on the heater and walking back to the bed. Teasing his Sacrifice was always fun with Ritsuka yelling and screaming at him. Ritsuka quickly took the blanket from Soubi as he laid back down, hitting him slightly on the arm.

"You trying to kill me?!"

Soubi grinned at him. "Of course not. Why would I want to kill the one I love?"

The only noise in the small apartment was their giggling as Soubi glomped Ritsuka violently, kissing him on the cheek.

"What are you going to do about your mother?" Soubi asked after a while.

Ritsuka shook his head. "I don't know. She'll kill me if she sees me without my ears. And if she doesn't kill me, I'll definitely be bruised for a while."

"You don't have to go home." Soubi said. "You could always stay here with me."

The boy sat up. "But even if I did, I'd still have to say something to her! And I'd have to get my things, too!" He shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I just can't."

"But, Ritsuka, I don't want to see you get hurt anymore. I'm sick of seeing you with bandages all over your face."

Ritsuka gave him a small smile. "Hey, I've been dealing with this for four years already. I'll survive. I'll call you when I get home to let you know if I'm alright, but first I'm gonna stop by Yayoi-san's house to see what happened with Yuiko and everything."

The boy climbed out of bed and got dressed. Soubi looked at him with a worried look on his face.

"Do you want me to come with you?" he asked.

Ritsuka shook his head. "I'll be fine!" He walked over to Soubi and hugged him before heading towards the door. "I'll call you later."

"Good-bye. I love you." Soubi called after him.

"Love you, too!"

Ritsuka quickly skipped towards Yayoi's house. He could see Yayoi and Yuiko standing there. The two had apparently been standing there for quite some time – doing absolutely nothing.

"Uh…guys?" He poked them both softly on the shoulder as he came up to them.

"Y-Yayoi-san?" Yuiko asked finally. "What happened to your ears?!"

Yayoi was hanging his head and staring at the ground. "Well…I-uh…got drunk, and…things happened."

"That's almost exactly what Ritsuka said!" Yuiko exclaimed. "It wasn't you instead of Soubi, was it?!"

The two boys jumped back in shock at the idea. "Ewww, no!!!" they said together.

"Then who was it?" the pink-haired girl asked.

"…Some guy named Kio." Yayoi said after a couple minutes of trying to remember the name.

Yuiko stared blankly at her friends. "I'm going home…" she said. "I can't take anymore surprises today."

---

**A/N:** Eh, I don't like how the ending came out, but I had to end it soon since it was already getting to be around 5 pages long. Anyway, what do you think of the new characters? They weren't really planned. When I started this, I didn't plan on having Septimal Moon in it or any original characters, but a friend of mine just suddenly started throwing out ideas to me after she started reading this and before long, Riko and Asami came up. In case anyone's wondering, they both have their ears.

And on the next chapter, it'll be up as soon as possible. I an idea for a Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu fanfic I may start on. Dunno yet. But it'll definitely be up sometime next week! Hopefully before Tuesday.

Now review!


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** Still don't own Loveless. :[

Sorry for taking so long on this chapter! I've been a little busy with other things. But anyway, enjoy this one and be sure to review!

**Morning Surprise**

**Chapter IV**

Yuiko walked away from her friends calmly. She kept calm, but on the inside, she was going crazy. Her best friends – her _only_ friends had both lost their ears. And on the same day. It wasn't that she was jealous. Well, not in Yayoi's case, but she was jealous of Soubi. She loved Ritsuka more than anything, and the fact that he'd gotten drunk and lost his ears to Soubi on his birthday was a bit too much for her to handle.

As soon as she turned the corner, she took off running for home. Ritsuka and Yayoi had watched her walk away, but didn't do anything to stop her. They both knew she should be alone right now. Then again, all three of them really needed to be alone right now to have time to think.

Yayoi's head was still hanging down. At least in Ritsuka's case, he loved Soubi. But with Yayoi, he didn't exactly know Kio very well. They'd seen each other a few times over the past couple years, but they couldn't even be considered friends. Just acquaintances.

"My mom's going to kill me when I go inside." Yayoi said, turning his head toward the front door.

"At least she won't literally kill you." Ritsuka replied. "I'll be lucky if I don't at least get put in the hospital."

They both wished each other good luck, then took off. Ritsuka walked as slow as he could. He'd already gotten badly injured from breaking his curfew before. Now, even though he was allowed to stay out later, he hadn't come home _at all_, and the fact that his ears were gone were going to make things a whole lot worse. The thought of wearing fake ones slipped through his mind several times, but his mother would eventually find out. And if she found out he was lying to her…well, he didn't want to think about that.

Half an hour later, he was standing in front of his house. He could see the light on in his mother's bedroom. If he was lucky, she'd locked herself up in there all night and hadn't even noticed he was gone. Unfortunately, he never had the best luck in these situations.

He slowly unlocked the door and opened it, looking around. His mother was sitting silently at the kitchen table.

"Hey, Mom…" he said, closing the door behind him.

The teen instinctively stayed as far away from the woman as he could without her noticing. The farther away from her he was, the better chance he had at running. As his mother stand there he wondered if she'd even noticed he was there, or that his ears were gone. But then he heard his mother begin muttering something.

"My Ritsuka…wouldn't do this…"

It was then he noticed the knife on the table. He stood there, frozen, for a moment, unsure of whether to run to the door or stay still. By the time he decided to run, Misaki was already coming at him with the knife.

"My Ritsuka wouldn't do this to me! He'd keep his ears and he'd stay home when he's supposed to!" she screamed. She lunged at him, aiming the knife at his arm, but he quickly moved out of the way.

'Mom! Don't!" he exclaimed as she tried to grab his arm.

His mother was totally out of it, though. She threw the knife towards Ritsuka, and he tried to dodge it. He moved just a second too late; the blade pierced his leg as he unsuccessfully tried to move out of the way. He screamed as he pulled it out of his lower leg and limped out of the way of his mother, who was now attempting to slap him to death.

"Give me my Ritsuka back!" she kept screaming.

As she neared him, she caught onto his neck, wrapping her fingers around it tightly. Ritsuka coughed as his lungs were cut off from air. He tried to pry her hands from his neck, but she only squeezed tighter.

"Mom! ….Let…go!"

His pleas only made it worse. Still yelling her head off, she punched him in the eye, causing him to scream as loudly as he could with her fingers still wrapped firmly around his neck. When his squirming around made it too hard for her to hold on, she threw him against the wall and let him fall to the ground. His arm briefly made contact with the knife, giving him a small cut near his elbow. He winced slightly, trying to regain his breath.

Misaki had apparently worn herself out, because as soon as he fell, she walked off to her room, though she was still screaming.

The smart thing to do would have been to get out of the house, but instead, Ritsuka limped up the stairs to his room, trying not to bump his leg against any of the steps. On the way to his room, he grabbed a towel from the bathroom and wrapped it around his wounded leg. It wasn't too deep; probably just a flesh wound, but it still hurt like hell.

When he got to his room, he let himself fall to the floor. He was too tired to get himself onto the bed.

His phone rang, but he ignored it. Soubi probably got worried when Ritsuka didn't call, so he called him. As much as he would have loved to see Soubi right now, he knew he couldn't let the man see him like this. Misaki had never hurt him this badly before, and Soubi would end up throwing a fit and drag him over to his house for good. Even though he did love that idea, it meant leaving his mom. She always hurt him, but he knew it wasn't her fault. She just went a little crazy after Seimei died. If he left….it would only get worse.

Several minutes later, he heard a knock on the window.

"Go away!" he groaned.

"Ritsuka, what's wrong? Let me in!"

It was Soubi, of course.

"Please, Soubi, just go away right now!"

He could feel the tears falling down his cheeks. The pain in his leg had worsened, his eye hurt, and he had bruises on his back and arms from being thrown against the wall. He just couldn't let Soubi see him like this.

The boy knew he didn't have much of a choice, though, when he remembered that the window wasn't locked.

"Ritsuka, I'm coming in!" Soubi yelled, opening up the window.

Ritsuka buried his face in his knees as Soubi came over to him. The older man knelt down beside him, pulling him into a tight hug. The boy instantly threw himself onto Soubi, sobbing into his chest. They just sat there for a few minutes; Soubi holding him while Ritsuka sobbed his heart out into the older man's chest.

"I thought I told you to call me if anything happened?" Soubi said, finally breaking the silence.

Ritsuka looked up at him. His eyes were red and puffy from crying. "You're not the one who's supposed to be giving orders…"

"Ritsuka, you know how much I worry about you when you go home. I just like to know if you're okay, or if you're hurt."

The boy turned his head away from Soubi.

"I-I'm sorry… I just didn't want you to see me all beaten up like this…" He hung his head, avoiding Soubi's gaze.

Soubi lifted his head and gave him a quick peck on the forehead before taking him back into his arms again. "As much as it hurts seeing you hurt like this, I still want to see you. That way I can help you if you're hurt."

Ritsuka stayed silent. He knew he needed to get away from his mother, or he'd end up dead, but he couldn't. After all, it wasn't her fault she was like this. She was just sick. If it was anyone's fault, it was his for replacing the real Ritsuka. But at the same time, he was still angry at her. Couldn't she just accept him like he was? Even the real Ritsuka would've started to change eventually. Then again, as long as he had Soubi's love, it was enough. It was enough to put up with whatever his mother did.

After a few minutes, he felt himself being lifted off the floor. He looked up at Soubi, who was walking towards the window.

"Soubi, what are you doing?"

"I'm taking you back to my apartment. You need your wounds treated better."

Ritsuka didn't object as he was carried out of his room and back to Soubi's apartment.

During the remainder of Winter Break, Ritsuka had spent as much time at Soubi's apartment as he could. He often snuck out of the house and snuck back in through the window, just to avoid any confrontations with his mother. Climbing in and out of the window every day was hard on him with the amount of bruises, cuts, scrapes, and other wounds he had, but if it was for Soubi, it was worth it. Of course on the days he stayed at his apartment rather late, Soubi would be forced to carry him home since the boy was much too sore to move.

By the time it was time to go back to school, his leg had fully healed and his bruises weren't as bad. Unfortunately, they were still bad enough that Yuiko kept fussing over the amount of bandages he had, which of course, made Yayoi jealous. What made it worse was that she kept bringing up the fact that Ritsuka and Yayoi had both lost their ears every time something came up even slightly related to that.

When he first showed up at school, everyone had immediately jumped to the conclusion that he'd done it with Yuiko. Of course when Yuiko showed up at school with her ears and tail firmly intact while Yayoi showed up _without_ his ears and tail…everyone suspected Yayoi and Ritsuka had lost them to each other. If only they knew they'd both lost their ears to college students.

Ritsuka was sitting at his desk; Yuiko and Yayoi were standing around it. The teacher was going to be late because of something going on in the office, so everyone was free to talk for a while. Yuiko was yapping about how all she did was sit around during break since Yayoi was grounded and Ritsuka was always off with Soubi.

"It's not my fault I was grounded!" Yayoi protested. "Otherwise I would've done anything you wanted me to!"

Ritsuka looked up from the book he was reading. "I…would've gone out, but I wasn't exactly in the best shape to be walking around."

Yuiko and Yayoi stared at him. "Ewww…"

He blushed a bright red as realized how it sounded. "Nothing like that! Well…maybe a little… But you know how my mom is! She went crazy when she saw me without my ears!"

"Yeah, I'm sure Soubi had absolutely _nothing_ to do with it!"

The three turned to see Asami standing there, looking bored, as usual, but she flashed a big smile when they'd fully turned around.

"Ritsuka-kun! I came to your house on the 22nd! Why weren't you there?!"

Ritsuka glared at her. "Why do you care? It's not like we're friends or anything."

Asami frowned. "Well, it makes it awfully hard to carry out orders when the person you're supposed to drag over to Ritsu-sensei is never there."

Yayoi and Yuiko looked confused as ever. Ritsuka had never told them anything about Fighters, Sacrifices, real names, or anything, so it was only natural that they had no idea what was going on.

Ritsuka, however, was confused as well, though not as confused as his friends were.

"What does he want with me?" he asked.

"To get your ass over to that school, of course!" she screamed. "You haven't had ANY proper training and just because Soubi's standing in as your Fighter doesn't mean he's your REAL Fighter. But if you'd just go over there, then maybe they'd actually FIND your Fighter!"

If it was possible, Yuiko and Yayoi looked even more confused than before. Ritsuka looked over at them and gave them a quick, 'I'll explain later.' look. He then turned back to Asami, who was fuming. He'd forgotten how irritable that girl was.

"How do you know all this stuff anyway?"

Asami sighed and pulled up the sleeve of her long-sleeved top, revealing a mark on her wrist. Ritsuka laughed slightly as he read the name.

"What's so funny?!" Asami yelled.

"The name Adorable doesn't exactly fit you all that well."

She glared at him. "How dare you! You're gay! It's not like you pay attention to girls' looks anyway, so how would you know?!"

"Oh, shut up already, will you? If you're such a homophobe, stay away from me."

Asami gave him a hurt look. "Me? A homophobe? Really, I spend most of my free time reading and watching any yaoi and shonen-ai I can get my hands on!"

She stopped as she realized how off-topic this was getting. In only a couple minutes, they'd gone from talking about him going to Ritsu for training…to what she did in her free time. Irritated, she grabbed the book from his hands and whacked him on the head with it.

"Hey, that hurt!"

"Well, it's your fault for making me get off topic! Just please, go to Ritsu-sensei for training!" She clasped her hands together against her chest and batted her eyelashes. "Pretty please?"

Not knowing what to do, Yuiko and Yayoi had only stood there watching the two squabble. Their friend was definitely going to have to explain things to them, because right now…they were totally lost.

Ritsuka shook his head. "I'm not leaving Soubi."

Asami immediately dropped her innocent pose. "Oh, come on! What's so great about him anyway? Sure, he's hot, but he's annoying! All he wants is to be ordered around and he's a freakin' masochist!"

The boy ignored her as she continued ranting. "I'm not going, okay? Just stop asking!"

She was about to protest when the teacher came in.

"Everyone, take your seats! I'm sorry I was late."

Asami glanced back at Ritsuka quickly. "I'll find someway to get you over there. I can't have Sensei mad at me."

"Rikoooo-chaaannnn!!!!!!!! It's not working!" Asami cried.

School was over for the day, and she was already walking home with her Fighter. Or rather, hanging onto her Fighter's arm and being dragged home.

"I told you it wouldn't work, didn't I?" Riko asked, trying to get Asami off of her arm.

"You haven't exactly helped me at all!" the younger girl protested. Her ears and tail were drooping.

Riko stopped and looked down at her. "'Course not! I don't have time for things like that!" she said cheerfully.

"Just because you're older doesn't mean you can blow off orders! Sensei will be angry if we don't succeed on this!"

Riko patted her Sacrifice on the back reassuringly. "Don't worry. I'm sure _you_ can find someway to get us back on his good side."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!" Asami exclaimed as they continued their walk to her house.

The older girl ignored her. "What exactly did you say to him?"

"I just told him to go to the school for training." she replied.

"Well, next time I'll help you. I'll try and force him!"

"Ritsuka-kun! Tell us what all that was about this morning!" Yuiko begged, pulling on Ritsuka's sleeve.

Ritsuka shook his head. Yuiko and Yayoi leaned in close to his face, trying to give their best sad face they could. Ritsuka ignored it.

"Look, it's a long story, and you probably wouldn't understand." he said.

"We don't have homework. We've got plenty of time!" Yayoi protested.

"Please, Ritsuka-kun?!" Yuiko cried, clasping her hands together in front of her.

Ritsuka sighed. "Fine. Let's go to the park or something, though. I don't really feel like going anywhere near home right now."

* * *

o.o I couldn't think of a good way to end this chapter. I also think I may have gotten a bit OOC with some of the characters at some point in this chapter. Next chapter may take a bit longer since school's starting Monday (nnuuuu, school ;;), but I'll try and get it up as soon as possible.


End file.
